Eagle Scout Project Helps Beautify Gorst

Gorst The paved turnaround on Highway 166 east of Gorst is now a paved, landscaped turnaround, courtesy of a South Kitsap Eagle Scout prospect and the state's Adopt-A-Highway program. </p>
<p>Seventeen-year-old Jarrett Gallent had his family on the scene of what has become his Eagle Scout project on Friday, and had much of the rest of Troop 1528 of Olalla there Saturday. </p>
<p>Bob Barnes, a landscape architect with the state Transportation Department's Olympic Region, also was on hand as the group put 480 small plants and three trees in the ground in the center of the turnaround. </p>
<p>Barnes said the Adopt-A-Highway program has been in more than roadside litter cleanup since 1995. It now encompasses this kind of project, as well. </p>
<p>Diver Don Larson of Bremerton, best known for his regular underwater cleanups, has a role with the department, too, Barnes said, which is growing out of a planting project near Warren Avenue Bridge. </p>
<p>Larson brought to Gallent a list of potential highway-related projects the state had put together to consider for his Eagle Scout project. The teen chose the turnaround, which was built years ago to make it easy for eastbound motorists to drive back to Gorst businesses that they couldn't otherwise reach because of the center concrete barrier through part of the town. </p>
<p>Last week, he joined state workers on the site to spray a layer of compost, followed by a layer of bark, over the surface of the turnaround's center. State crews had cut most of the brush out of the center and applied an herbicide to what remained a month ago. </p>
<p>On Friday, Gallent, dad Jim, mom Liz, brothers Jon and Andy, along with fellow troop members Stephen and Nate O'Guin, readied the site for Saturday's planting of 142 each of Oregon grape, fragrant sumac and Hancock coralberry plants, plus three tulip trees. </p>
<p>The trees in time will grow to more than 50 feet tall, Barnes said. The plants came from a plant resource center the state has in Tumwater and an Olympia nursery. </p>
<p>They were chosen for their resistance to drought, Barnes said. The trees will lose their leaves in the winter so the other plants won't have too much shade.</p>
<p>The state provided the materials and Gallent the organization and manpower. The planting was done earlier than the state ordinarily would undertake, allowing Gallent to beat the Sept. 5 deadline, his 18th birthday, to complete his Eagle project.</p>
<p>"He's learned a lot on this project," Barnes said of Gallent.</p>
<p>His son's is the fourth Eagle Scout project done by members of Troop 1528 this year, said Jim Gallent.</p>
<p>The other three, done by Jason Van Geelkerken, Nick Taylor and Charlie Lloyd, all benefited the Kitsap Humane Society, with improvements to the shelter's exercise trail and, in Lloyd's case, construction of a 20-foot-by-60-foot aviary.